SUCCESS STORY: Staying Healthy While Battling Lyme Disease with Supplements, Exe

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SUCCESS STORY: Staying Healthy While Battling Lyme Disease with

Supplements, Exercise, and Massage

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(http://www.vitalitymagazine.com/may10_pg32pic) by Vanessa Farnsworth

In many ways, I'm a typical Lyme disease patient. Like so many before me,

it took a long time for doctors to put a name on the mysterious illness

that was slowly destroying my health – and when the diagnosis finally came,

it was far too late for an easy cure.

There came a point during treatment when I realized that if I was ever

going to live anything approximating a “normal†life, I’d need to figure

out

what could be done to minimize some of the disease’s more debilitating

symptoms. That meant a lot of reading and even more experimentation, but the

end result is that Lyme is now more of an inconvenience than a crippling

disease.

Regardless of whether you’re taking a prolonged course of antibiotics or,

like me, are using classical homeopathy or another recognized form of

treatment (herbal medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, or Rife treatments to

name a few), the following suggestions should prove useful in relieving

some of the discomfort associated with battling a chronic Lyme infection.

Magnesium

There are many things that distinguish Lyme from other bacteria. One of

them is that most bacteria require iron to complete their life cycles. Lyme

bucks this trend by requiring magnesium instead. As a result, Lyme patients

often suffer from magnesium deficiency syndromes that either cause or

greatly contribute to some of the disease’s more aggravating symptoms,

including muscle twitches, spasms, cramps, cardiac arrhythmias, tremors,

anxiety

and weakness. Supplementing magnesium can eliminate or significantly improve

these symptoms. I’ve been taking one 300 mg. of magnesium citrate tablet

every day for about two years and it’s made a dramatic improvement in all of

these symptoms.

(If you’ve experienced a slow heart rate at any point since contracting

Lyme, talk to your physician before taking magnesium.)

It should be noted that somewhere along the line, someone got the idea

that if magnesium plays such an integral role in the bacteria’s life cycle,

the disease could be eradicated by restricting magnesium intake and

essentially starving the bad guys out. Don’t do this.

Lyme has survival mechanisms that allow it to remain dormant for as long

as it takes for magnesium levels to rise again. All you’ll do by cutting

back on your magnesium intake is make yourself miserable.

Maca Root

One of the tragically under-recognized problems in Lyme is the impact the

disease has on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis

is part of the neuroendocrine system and helps to regulate, among other

things, temperature, digestion, immune function, mood, reproductive hormones

and energy levels. It’s sometimes referred to as the “stress systemâ€

because it helps to stabilize our response to stress. It’s also greatly

impacted

by stress.

There’s no question that anyone battling chronic Lyme suffers from stress,

but what’s more important is that dying Lyme bacteria release endotoxins

that disrupt the HPA axis, a strategy designed to minimize immune response

and allow the infection to thrive.

Maca root’s adaptogenic qualities counteract the effects of these

endotoxins by working directly on HPA pathways to restore normal function. It

corrects hormonal imbalance (for both sexes), strengthens the immune system,

increases stamina, reduces stress, and improves sleep quality. Maca root is

available from most health food stores in either capsule or powder form.

For best results, buy the powder form and start by taking less than the

recommended dosage, then build up until you reach the level that’s optimal

for

you.

Probiotics

If you’re taking pharmaceutical antibiotics, your doctor has likely

already explained the importance of taking probiotics since these

broad-spectrum

medications kill the “good†bacteria along with the “badâ€, throwing off

the balance of your intestinal flora. Even if your primary treatment is

something other than conventional antibiotics, Lyme loves to colonize the

digestive tract and can spread from there to the rest of your body. This is

where probiotics can really help. The more “good†bacteria you have in

your

system, the harder it is for the “bad†bacteria to flourish.

You can get probiotics in several different forms from the refrigerated

section of your local health food store.

You can also get good bacteria from yogurt, but do yourself a favour and

avoid the flavoured kinds which can be surprisingly high in carbohydrates,

something that Lyme uses for fuel. It’s the traditional sour yogurt that

will serve you best.

Vitamin C

Collagen makes up between 25% and 35% of all the protein in the human

body. It’s found in everything from joints, bones, and tendons to blood

vessels, organs, and eyes. It literally holds us together.

Due to their unique corkscrew shape, Lyme bacteria find it much easier to

twizzle through collagen than to flail around in blood. This is why Lyme

bacteria are rarely found in the bloodstream just a few weeks after initial

infection. Instead they’re both colonizing our collagen tissues and using

them to travel to other parts of our bodies. The more quickly and efficiently

our bodies can repair all that damage, the less discomfort we’ll be in.

Enter vitamin C.

Much has been written about the benefits of supplementing vitamin C when

battling a cold or the flu. It’s also our ally in the battle against Lyme.

Vitamin C is essential to the manufacture and repair of collagen and when

our bodies don’t get enough of it, the healing process slows down. Since

humans need to rely on either dietary sources or supplements to replace the

vitamin C that is constantly being utilized and excreted from our bodies, we

often don’t get as much as we need to optimize our ability to efficiently

repair damaged tissue. Regularly supplementing vitamin C ensures that we do.

Some people advocate taking as much vitamin C per day as your body will

tolerate (known as bowel tolerance level) without triggering nasty side

effects that can include diarrhea, gas, excess urination and/or skin rashes.

The level at which these side effects kick in can vary from person to person,

but I find that my body seems happiest when I take one 1,000 mg packet of

Liposomal vitamin C twice per day.

Green Food

We have a tendency when we get sick to crave carbohydrate-rich comfort

foods even though we know they aren’t as good for us as other things we could

be eating. Somehow it doesn’t seem to matter how often we’re told to

drink lots of water and eat lots of fresh vegetables – when there is cake to

distract us from our misery.

Green food powders give our bodies what they need to function at their

best when we are battling illness. These so-called superfoods are chock full

of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, plant fibre and trace nutrients.

They do several things that are important when battling Lyme, including

boosting your immune system, improving mental function, aiding digestion,

increasing energy levels, balancing pH, cleansing cells and helping you to

better cope with stress. They’re available in powder form from most health

food stores and, when mixed into water, tend to look an awful lot like pond

scum and, I imagine, taste an awful lot like it, too. But you’ll learn to

love green superfoods because, unlike the cake, the good feeling they give you

lasts.

Several brands are available, including Greens+ by Genuine Health and

Greens Force by Prairie Naturals. Follow package directions for best results.

 

Appropriate Exercise

Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a chronic Lyme patient quite like

the prospect of exercising. After all, many of us have spent long stretches

collapsed on couches, beds or floors. Moving more than the minimum

required to sustain life can feel like we’re being complicit in our own

torture.

Still, the fact remains that you won’t truly feel like yourself again

until you start to address the impact which the loss of conditioning has had on

your body. Exercise does a lot of things that are beneficial: it raises

energy levels, boosts stamina, lifts mood, controls weight, improves sleep

quality, increases strength and flexibility, enhances immune function and

generally improves your quality of life.

This doesn’t mean that I’m advocating that you go out and run a marathon.

Even if you were inclined to try it, strenuous aerobic exercise can have

a deleterious effect when you’re battling a long-term infection. Instead,

you need to start with simple stretching exercises that work every major

muscle group. Yoga is excellent for this.

My initial attempts at yoga were limited to relaxation postures and even

those were a strain. Now I can do a full ninety minutes of yoga every other

day. It took me two years and a whole lot of determination to get to this

point, but I’m glad that I stuck with it because there are moments every

day when, in spite of whatever else might be happening healthwise, my body

feels like my body and not like some broken-down heap from which I’d love to

escape.

Massage Therapy

Like many people who live with chronic Lyme, my initial attempts at

exercise were far from successful. Even doing something as basic as a forward

bend would leave me exhausted and in pain. The combined effect of the damage

that the disease had caused, and a profound lack of use, had left my body

prone to injury. I can honestly say that I don’t think I would have stuck it

out if it wasn’t for the assistance of a registered massage therapist.

Massage therapists use the systematic application of pressure and movement

to manipulate the body’s soft tissues in an effort to improve relaxation,

speed up injury recovery, soothe aching muscles, stimulate nerves and

increase the flow of blood and lymph.

At my first massage therapy appointment, I listed suffocating fatigue as

my number one complaint. Just two sessions in, the fatigue had started to

dissipate and a few months later it was no longer a major issue. I won’t

make the claim that it’s entirely gone, but it’s such a minor problem now

that it doesn’t impact my life in any significant way.

At the same time, the pain which wracked my muscles, joints, tendons and

ligaments whenever I exercised started to ease off. Soon I was able to work

out without experiencing any negative impacts and my muscles slowly but

surely regained their elasticity.

It’s only improved from there.

Herbs for Lyme Disease

by Julia Woodford

When I asked Francis Ashwagandha, Ayurvedic Consultant at the Big Carrot

Dispensary, what he would suggest for people battling Lyme Disease, his

first response was “Andrographis.†Curious, I searched Vitality’s

archives

online for a reminder about what we had published on this herb, and here’s

what I found:

“In Scandinavia, this is now the main herb used to fight the common cold,

flu, and upper respiratory infections. Clinical trials have shown that this

herb really works... by boosting the immune system, helping the body to

battle infections and prevent them from reoccurring.

Andrographis is traditionally used to treat a host of illnesses in China,

Thailand, and India – addressing bacterial and viral infections, fever,

diarrhea, inflammation, blood pressure, and blood sugar problems. And

Andrographis extract has even been shown to inhibit the proliferation of cancer

by

causing differentiation-inducing activity among tumour cells.â€

Although the above was written in regards to Andrographis for colds and

influenza, this herb apparently has broad spectrum antiviral and

antibacterial properties, thus its value in battling Lyme bacteria.

Andrographis is available at health stores in two forms:

1) St. Francis Herb Farm’s Andrographis comes in a tincture bottle

(alcohol-based);

2) A certified organic powder form of Andrographis is produced by Organic

Traditions.

Another herb that entered the discussion is Asafoetida, not because it

treats Lyme but because it is very high in sulfur which works as an insect

repellant when taken internally. Francis says he takes it whenever he does his

hiking tours in Cuba, in order to ward off the mosquitoes in the

mountains. The thinking is that if it wards off mosquitoes, it just might ward

off

Lyme ticks too, if taken before hiking into tick-infested parks and woodland

areas. There’s no research on this though.

He also recommended a good book on the subject, entitled Healing Lyme by

Stephen Harrod Buhner; Raven Press.

For more information, call Francis Ashwagandha, MH, at the Big Carrot

Wholistic Dispensary (348 Danforth Ave., Toronto, 416-466-8432, email:

_dispensary_ (dispensary) )